Ambassador Bridge closed by phony bomb threat 4 days after similar trick at DW Tunnel

Monday evening around 8pm someone at a payphone in Windsor telephoned local police saying there was a bomb on the bridge. Authorities on both sides of the bridge got vehicles off, closed access, then began searches. As of midnight they had found nothing.

A similar phony threat was made midday July 12 saying there was a bomb in the nearby Detroit Windsor Tunnel. That threat had the tunnel closed for about five hours through the afternoon while searches were made, and nothing was found.

Dan Stamper of the Ambassador Bridge company said they suspect the disruptive calls are a spinoff of an industrial dispute in Canada over cutbacks in customs and immigration staffs at the border facilities.

An official of the Canadian customs officers union, Jason McMichael was quoted as disagreeing strongly with Dan Stamper saying this was "out of the realm of the possible."

But McMichael did say his members had been working loyally for a year now without any labor contract with the Canadian government and with declining numbers to handle traffic. So he agreed they had a grievance.

No other suggestion has been made as to the source of the phony threats, or their motivation.